Reportedly, school toolkits may help teachers and school staff support younger patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. According to a press release from EULAR, these findings were presented by Rebecca Beesley at the EULAR 2023 Congress and simultaneously published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Ms. Beesley, a volunteer at Juvenile Arthritis Research—the charity that developed the new toolkits—explained that younger patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis often require personalized learning strategies to help them better succeed in educational settings. In a recent study, investigators asked 100 schools with an estimated 100,000 students to respond to a survey after utilizing the toolkits—which included resources on juvenile idiopathic arthritis awareness and how to identify the condition, methods for conducting targeted interventions, materials to help teachers convey information on arthritis to their students, and documents to send home to the students’ parents. The investigators found that the schools reported using the toolkits to train staff and incorporated the materials into their lesson plans or on campus posters to educate students about the warning signs and symptoms of arthritis. Overall, the feedback from the survey was positive, and the investigators concluded that more widespread implementation of the toolkits in school settings could provide better support for younger patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, as well as impart skills teachers and parents can use to build awareness for the disease. Schools were encouraged to request the new toolkits at jarproject.org.
June 19, 2023